National minimum wage increases 2007 - From January 1st 2007, the national minimum wage increased to €8.30 per hour. On 20th December 2006 Minister Tony Killeen T.D, Minister for Labour Affairs announced that he had accepted the Labour Court recommendation to increase the national minimum wage from 1 January, 2007 to €8.30 per hour and from 1 July, 2007 to €8.65.

The new maternity leave and adoptive leave entitlements - come into effect from 1st March 2007. The 22-week period of maternity leave will increase to a 26-week period for employees going on normal maternity leave on or after 1st March 2007, and the 12-week additional maternity leave will increase to up to 16-weeks for employees going on additional maternity leave on or after 1st March 2007. The 20-week period of adoptive leave will increase to a 24-week period for employees going on normal adoptive leave on or after 1st March 2007, and the 12-week additional adoptive leave will increase to up to 16-weeks for employees going on additional adoptive leave on or after 1st March 2007.

Government announces new Employment Permits Arrangements - The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, launched the new economic migration and employment permit arrangements for workers who come from outside the European Economic Area. These arrangements arise out of the new Employment Permits Act 2006, and the existing Employment Permits Act 2003. They will come into operation from 1st February 2007. The Minister stated that the new scheme puts in place a flexible, responsive and managed economic migration policy which will ensure that Ireland continues to have a skilled workforce to meet its future employment needs. The new arrangements also include a number of key additional protections for workers in employment under the scheme. The Green Card/Permit will be granted and issued to the employee.

Government Attention on Employment Law Compliance - The Government has commenced appointments to the National Employment Rights Authority to increase the level of monitoring and compliance with employment rights within Ireland.

In January 2007 the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment announced that Mr Ger Deering, currently the Commissioner for Taxi Regulation, has been selected to be the Director of the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). Mr Deering will take up his post from 12th February 2007. The NERA was established as part of the ‘Towards 2016’ Social Partnership Agreement. The Social Partners recognised that while there was a broad level of compliance with employment rights across the economy, a commitment was required to securing enhanced compliance with employment rights, which would be underpinned by adequate enforcement.

The Minister confirmed that the Government will make available to the Director of the NERA all the staffing and other resources required to deliver the employment compliance regime outlined in ‘Towards 2016’. The Minister wants the NERA to be immediately operational so that it will assemble its resources to enable it to meet its agreed capabilities within the time-frame envisaged in ‘Towards 2016’. The Minister stated that it is his intention to establish the NERA and its Advisory Board on an interim basis pending the introduction of legislation on employment rights compliance.

Employment Appeals Tribunal Annual Report 2005 - The annual report of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) for 2005 has been published. The EAT is a quasi-judicial body whose function is to adjudicate on disputes relating to individual employment rights. The Chairperson highlighted that the Tribunal disposed of an all-time high of 1,381 unfair dismissal cases in 2005, which was a slight increase from 2004 when 1,363 unfair dismissal cases were disposed of. In 2005 the Tribunal awarded compensation amounting to €1,775,975 in 196 cases. Re-instatement was ordered in 3 cases and re-engagement was ordered in 2 cases. A further breakdown of these figures is included in this article.

New Era for Workers Rights announced by Minister - The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, TD, announced that the number of Labour Inspectors will increase significantly and that they will be located in regional centres across the country. Speaking at a news conference earlier this month, the Minister said that the opening of regional offices for Labour Inspectors is an important move to ensure that workers in every county have their rights protected. He said, At present we are in the process of increasing the number of inspectors by 200% to 90, as set out in 'Towards 2016. The locations and the number of inspectors and support staff assigned will be on the basis of population, work force and gateways identified in the National Spatial Strategy. The head office for the new National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) will be in Carlow.

Preparation of Key Employment Rights Legislation - The Minister confirmed that substantial progress has been made in advancing the commitments regarding employment rights entered into under the ten year social partnership agreement, Towards 2016. He said, "The first Bill to give effect to our employment rights commitments is the 'Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies) Bill 2007'. This Bill provides for the establishment of a Redundancy Panel, drawn from the social partners, which can request the Minister to refer cases of dismissals to the Labour Court for an opinion as to whether or not they are genuine redundancies." Based on that opinion the Minister may refuse to pay a redundancy rebate. The purpose of this will be to allow the Minister to intervene with regard to the redundancy payment rebate in cases where the redundancies are not deemed legitimate.

There are other provisions in the Bill including abolishing the upper age limit of 66 for qualifying for statutory redundancy. Also, as regards protecting employees in the home, the Minister said that the Labour Relations Commission is close to finalising the Code of Practice foreseen in Towards 2016 and would hope to be in a position to submit the Code to the Minister shortly.